The 47-year-old suspect in a stolen ambulance was stopped on the Mario Cuomo Bridge in Westchester County by a rumble strip.
Police said that they used GPS to track the ambulance as it went north on Interstate 87 through Westchester County. (Photo: William Miller)
Stolen Ambulance to a 25-mile Joyride
Authorities say that a patient took himself to a hospital in New York City through the stolen ambulance and took it on a 25-mile joyride until state police used a spike strip to stop him.
A 47-year-old man was taken to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital in Manhattan on Thursday morning for observation, cops said.
A New York City police spokesman said that the man left the hospital just before 5 a.m. with the keys in the ignition of the ambulance he had been in. The ambulance was unlocked and empty, and the keys were in the ignition. Police say the man got in and drove away. Police said that they used GPS to track the stolen ambulance as it went north on I-87 through Westchester County.
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Police Stops Stolen Ambulance Through Tire-Spiking Device
In a news statement, the New York state police said that state troopers saw the ambulance near Tarrytown and tried to stop it. Police said that the car didn’t stop, so the troopers gave chase.
Police said that a tire-spiking device was put on the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, which crosses the Hudson River, to stop the ambulance from driving away. When the man tried to cross the bridge in the ambulance, the tires lost air.
Police say the man was caught on charges of grand theft, criminal possession of the stolen property, illegally trying to get away from a police officer in a car, and driving while drunk. Information about his lawyer was not available right away. A representative for the Mount Sinai hospital chain also didn’t want to say anything about the joyride.
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